MS. BUCHAN: Let me start with the President's day today. He had
his usual briefings in Washington before leaving. When he arrives in
Louisville he will be met by Freedom Corps greeter Marina Partee.

And Marina -- let me tell you a little bit about her. Marina is an
honors student at Jefferson Community College where she studies
computer information systems. In 1995 she sought assistance from the
Center for Women and Families, which is a non-profit organization which
helps women in crisis. Today she has been a volunteer -- in fact has
been a volunteer for three years at that women's crisis center, and she
speaks in the community about overcoming domestic violence and the
importance of financial responsibility. She is a volunteer with the
Common Wealth Individual Development Account, which helps low-income
individuals with their financial skills. And she volunteers at the
Louisville Asset Building Coalition, which promotes financial stability
for individuals and families.

The President will then go to ISCO Industries, where he'll
participate in a conversation on the economy. ISCO -- I'll tell you a
little bit about it. It's a small irrigation supply company. It has
160 employees in 13 states, and it's grown in the past several years,
adding eight new locations and 60 employees. The conversation
participants will be both the ISCO Chairman, President of a machine
company, President of Mac construction company, as well as an employee
for ISCO and -- actually two employees for ISCO.

Q Claire, added 60 employees over the last how many years?

MS. BUCHAN: Three years.

Q How many?

MS. BUCHAN: Three. Then the President will participate in a
Bush-Cheney '04 fundraiser. He will then depart to Charlotte, North
Carolina, where he will be met by Laura Spencer, who quit her job at
Accenture in October of 2003 to become a full-time volunteer. She
volunteers as part of the Adult Basic Literacy Education Program at the
Central Piedmont Community College, where the President will be having
his meeting on the economy. She also volunteers with Communities In
Schools of Charlotte-Mecklenburg, Inc. She is a lunch buddy to a
nine-year old student and she serves as the assistant coach of an
elementary Girls on the Run team.

The President will then participate in a meeting on the economy at
Central Piedmont Community College, which is the largest community
college in North Carolina. It serves about 70,000 students annually,
and they are a leader in workforce development and job training for
displaced workers. The meeting participants there will be business and
community leaders, and they will be talking about the activities that
we can do to help workers prepare for good jobs in the future. The
President will then have a press pool with you all, pool at the end.
And then he will participate in a Bush-Cheney fundraiser before
returning home.

I also want to tell you -- and we'll have a statement for you when
we're done here -- we'll be issuing a statement by the press secretary
-- Libya has taken significant steps in implementing its commitment to
disclose and dismantle all weapons of mass destruction programs. While
there remains more to be done, Libya's actions are serious, credible
and consistent with Colonel Ghadafi's public declaration that Libya
seeks to play a role in building a new world free from WMD and from all
forms of terrorism. The President has made clear that Libya's decision
to renounce these programs voluntarily would open the path to better
relations with the U.S. And in recognition of Libya's concrete steps
to repudiate WMD and to build the foundation for Libya's economic
growth and reintegration into the international community, the U.S.
will take the following five steps. Let me just outline them for you,
and you'll get the paper on this.

First, the Secretary of State will today rescind the restriction on
the use of American passports for travel to Libya. Second, the
Treasury Department will issue a general licence for all travel-related
expenditures in Libya. Third, U.S. companies with pre-sanctions
holdings in Libya will be authorized, as of today, to negotiate the
terms of their reentry into operations in Libya. Fourth, the U.S.
invites Libya to establish an interest section in Washington. And
fifth, the administration commits to increasing contacts between Libya
and American societies and exploring cooperation in humanitarian
projects.

Q How about the -- how about the economic, the main economic
and trade sanctions, those are -- remain in place?

MS. BUCHAN: Other sanctions remain in place, and as the President
has said, as Libya moves forward with its good-faith efforts, we will
move forward with our good-faith actions. And you're seeing that
today.

Q Can we get a copy of that before we land?

Q Before we land?

MS. BUCHAN: Yes.

Q Claire, can I ask about the 9/11 Commission? Speaker Hastert
has said he does not support extending the Commission's time frame for
doing their work. Will the President push him to change his mind and
support an extension and let an extension go through Congress?

MS. BUCHAN: Well, the President has made his views clear. He
supports an extension of the 9/11 Commission. That is the White House
view. And we've worked very cooperatively with the 9/11 Commission to
ensure that they have all the information necessary to do their job.
So the President believes it's important work.

Q Will he press Congress to approve the extension as is
necessary for the Commission to do what he says he supports them
doing?

MS. BUCHAN: As I said, the President has made his views clear, and
that's where it stands from our standpoint as the President --

Q So I'll take that as a "no"?

MS. BUCHAN: Well, the President supports an extension and we've
stated that and continue to support it.

Q But when something is really important to him, he often
presses Congress over and over and over in speeches and through his
staff and public remarks to do what he wants them to do. Will he do
that on this issue?

MS. BUCHAN: I've indicated the President's view and he has made
that clear. The President's view is that we support an extension.

Q There are reports that Speaker Hastert had rejected a
personal plea from Andy Card to extend the deadline. Is that your
understanding of it, as well, that Card had requested personally to
Hastert to extend the deadline?

MS. BUCHAN: I don't have specifics on conversations they've had.
But as I said, our view, the White House view, is to support an
extension and that's where that stands.

Q Claire, tomorrow the German Chancellor is going to be meeting
with the President, and one of the things he's going to ask is a German
request to bid on contracts in rebuilding Iraq. What's the President
going to be telling him?

MS. BUCHAN: We'll obviously have more of a readout for you on
tomorrow's meeting tomorrow. Our views on contracts in Iraq are
clear. The President has made them clear.

Q What are they?

MS. BUCHAN: Well, we have put forward the list of companies that
can bid on the main contracts. Other companies are eligible for
sub-contracting, and we've indicated that circumstances can change.

Q Okay, Germany can do something to make changes, then, or
what?

MS. BUCHAN: If there's more to report, Roger, we'll let you know.

Q Tell us about North Korea. Apparently there -- according to
the Chinese, there was some progress. And then the North Koreans put
out a statement saying that the U.S. is responsible for a lack of
progress. What's your -- what's the status from the White House view?

MS. BUCHAN: I say we're not going to get into a play-by-play. The
six-party talks are underway. And all of the parties have made clear
that North Korea must completely, verifiably, and irreversibly
dismantle its nuclear program. And the talks continue.

Q What about the situation in Haiti? Is there any progress in
terms of trying to stabilize the situation there, or is the U.S.
position still, we're not going to look at any police presence until
there's a political settlement which has been reached?

MS. BUCHAN: Our position on Haiti, the President deplores the
violence in Haiti. And he's greatly concerned about the loss of life.
We are working with the OAS and with CARICOM on a peaceful political
solution to the current situation in Haiti. We continue to be actively
involved in the international community toward that end.

Q Was the administration surprised by France's announcement
that it felt that Aristide should, indeed, step aside and would the
U.S. encourage President Aristide to step aside if that's what it took
to reach peace in that country?

MS. BUCHAN: A couple things. One, we have put forward some
proposals. Our focus at the moment is on the proposals that we have
put forward and we are working with all parties on those proposals
toward a political solution within the context of the constitution of
Haiti. The President also remains committed to encouraging the
international community to provide a security presence as part of any
political solution.

Q So the U.S. itself would not be putting any actual security
personnel in place for that? That's something that's not on the table
right now?

MS. BUCHAN: Well, we are committed to encouraging the
international community to provide security presence as part of a
political solution.

Q Does that mean that the security presence would come to
enforce a political or to help police a political solution or
beforehand, possibly?

MS. BUCHAN: It means a political solution with security presence
as part of the political solution.

Q Just tell me the context, if you could, of the Libya
announcement. Why today? What prompted it today? -- release a
statement on -- okay, was there any --

MS. BUCHAN: Well, it's consistent with what the President
announced in December, when he said that Libya was going to be taking
steps to implement its commitment to disclose and dismantle its weapons
of mass destruction. And he indicated at that time that when Libya
took concrete steps, made good faith efforts, that their efforts would
be met with the good faith of the United States.

Q Was it in response to a positive move on the Libyan's part?
Is that fair to say?

MS. BUCHAN: That's consistent with what we've said, yes, that as
the Libyans make progress, they have an opportunity to improve their
standing.

Q So are we to assume that the concerns about Libyan officials'
interviews with the BBC not taking full --

MS. BUCHAN: We feel that the Libyan government addressed that
yesterday.